


Things Can Get Better

by Eleanorose123



Series: Shrimpshipping Week Summer 2018 [2]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Adopted Children, Adoption, Crossover Universe, Embarrassment, First Love, M/M, Parental Guidance - Freeform, Parenthood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-17
Updated: 2018-07-17
Packaged: 2019-06-10 21:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15300855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eleanorose123/pseuds/Eleanorose123
Summary: Various stories of Tokunosuke's life with his two dads. Ryuzaki worries, Haga is damn proud, and Tokunosuke just wants his parents to be less embarrassing.Day 2 entry for Shrimpshipweek Summer 2018: Crossover AU (Crossing over DM with Zexal)





	Things Can Get Better

**Author's Note:**

> Two of my favorite things come together for this fic, I'm so glad. It's already common fandom knowledge that Tokunosuke Omoteura from Zexal is basically the perfect mix of Haga and Ryuzaki. So why not take that a step further and have them be the ones raising the trickster?
> 
> This is mainly set in the Zexal universe with references to DM, but it should be easy enough to follow. Tokunosuke is 13 while Haga and Ryuzaki are in their mid thirties.

The crowds of children and parents alike filled Heartland’s middle school with light hearted chatter and amusement for Parents day. A few students lectured their parents not to embarrass them while the reverse happened for the stricter families.  Teachers just inwardly prayed they wouldn’t mess up their lessons in front of both of their audiences today.

Tokunosuke couldn’t help but laugh along with Takashi over all the interesting information they were gathering from this event.

“It’s amazing how much our peers straighten up with their parents around-ura.” The brunette noted, leaning against the wall of the hallway, while looking around. “I don’t think I’ve seen Taichi sweat so much.”

“There’s a lot riding on today’s events. I overheard him say if he meets his mother’s standards she won’t punish him for skipping class.” Takashi added. “To summarize, it seems like every family has their hurdles to jump over today.”

“Oh? Does the class rep have a controlling parent of his own-ura?” Tokunosuke glanced around the classroom. “I can only imagine. What, did you sneak in early just to make sure the desks were up to their standards-ura?”

“Ha ha. Very funny.” Takashi paused. “…I did that for the rest of the class’ sake, I assure you. But my mother isn’t the strict type at all. To summarize, I’m quite lucky to have a mother as supporting as her!”

Tokunosuke rolled his eyes. It really did make sense that his rule abiding and overall cheerful friend grew up in a good environment. Really, the trickster could’ve guessed that based on Takashi’s lunches he’d bring in, each carefully organized and prepared to include all the nutrition he’d need for the day. Or at least, that’s what Takashi claimed.

“Well-ura, guess I can cross off my ideas of humiliating you in front of her then. Won’t be fun if she’s as kind as you say, I’ll have to save them for Monday.”

“Tokunosuke, you wound me with such empty threats.” Takashi laughed a bit. He was glad that after everything, they’d become close enough to joke around like this. It’s hard to believe Yuma had inadvertently brought a chaos maker and a strict rule abider to be as close as they did but yet, here they were. “Oh, on that note; shouldn’t you be getting to your own class? Surely your parental figure is waiting for you.”

“Ehhh, they’re fine.” Tokunosuke shuffled his feet. “I’m sure my dads are having a good day at home.”

“What? Aren’t they coming in for Parents day?”

“It’s not that…they aren’t interested or anything…I just might’ve, sort of-“ Tokunosuke could feel Takashi’s hard stare on him. Curse that boy’s glare, it could always break down all of Tokunosuke’s walls. “…not told them about today.”

“ _Tokunosuke._ ” Takashi groaned, bringing a hand to his head. “You can’t just keep that sort of thing from your parents! It’s important!”

“It’s not _that_ important, Inchou.” The brunette waved off any guilt the other was trying to pass on him. “I’m not looking for their approval; they know I’m doing fine academically-ura. I just figured I’d save them the trip down here.”

Takashi raised an eyebrow at that. “Didn’t you say your commute is simple? And I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you standing in the hallways for forgetting homework more than once. To summarize, I’m starting to see holes in your story.”

“Don’t worry about it-ura!” Tokunosuke pushed away from the wall and turned directly to face the class rep. “My dads don’t have to be here! I’d rather they just have a day to themselves, is that so odd? The last thing I want is for them to see me-”

“See you _what_ , Toku?”

Takashi watched as his friend’s face drain its color. Standing behind him was an adult male he could only assume was one of Tokunosuke’s fathers. He had shoulder length brown hair with purple bangs and a hard glare that could only mean annoyance.

“D-dad! What a surprise seeing you here-ura!”  Tokunosuke quickly spun around to face his father, his eyebrow twitching in panic. “Can I help you with something?”

“How come you didn’t tell us you had a parents day today? Isn’t that something you would need a parent for?” He sighed heavily, before lightly bopping his son’s head. “Dummy, if you’re hiding something, this sure as hell was a weak attempt to keep it hidden. C’mon, hasn’t your other dad taught you better?”

“Yeah…” Tokunosuke took a breath and composed himself more. “…is he here too-ura?”

“Uh.” Now it seemed it was the parent’s turn to fumble. “Well- Let’s just say I found out about all this when I was getting some office supplies for him. There were some people talking about it in the store and I just happened to catch ear of it. And uh- I might’ve just ran here afterwards without a second thought.” He gestured to a satchel resting on his shoulder. “…I still have the stuff. I’ve been gone for two hours. Haga’s probably going to kill me.”

Tokunosuke couldn’t help but snort and laugh. “You didn’t even think to _call_ him-ura?”

“Well _excuse_ me! I just found out my son had a parent event I wasn’t invited to! Forgive me for going on instinct!” The man pulled his still laughing son into a headlock and started noogie-ing him out of embarrassment. Eventually he took note of the "very much amused by the situation" Takashi still standing nearby. “Oh hey, this one of those friends of yours?”

“Ah! Yes, hello there, sir.” Takashi straightened himself and gave a bow. “I’m Takashi Todoroki, your son’s comrade. I’m class representative- ah! But not for Tokunosuke’s class, the one next door! To summarize, we met through mutual friends.”

“Well, thanks for keeping an eye on this one then.” He let go of Tokunosuke and adjusted himself, a little weirded out by how formal the other student was. “I’m Ryuzaki Furukawa. It’s uh, nice to meet you. Toku talks about you a lot.”

“Eh? Really?” Takashi’s cheeks went a bit pink at that, looking over to the shorter male.

“I talk about all the guys in our group-ura! Don’t get the wrong idea!” he blurted out, turning to his dad and shoving him towards the classroom door. “We should get going then, don’t want to be late after all, bye Inchou!”

“O-Oh, okay then! I’ll talk to you later, I suppose?”

Ryuzaki watched as the class rep stood stunned before turning towards his own classroom. The man laughed a bit, letting himself get guided to his son’s classroom. The boy in question glared at him with a red face.

“Do you have to embarrass me like that-ura?”

“It’s part of the job description as a dad. Right after attending their child’s school events.” He watched his child groan and walk towards the desks in the room. “So, any _actual_ reason I wasn’t supposed to come?”

“Not really-ura.” Tokunosuke sat in his seat, lying his head down on the desk. Ryuzaki chose to lean against a wall nearby. “I just figured you and dad would enjoy some time to yourselves. It’s not a huge deal, I only came cause my friends were here and my teacher would call you if I skipped-ura.”

“So…it’s _not_ that you’d be embarrassed to show up with two dads or anything?” Tokunosuke gave him a look before shaking his head. “Well, that’s a load off.”

“People aren’t weird about that stuff, dad.”

“They were in my day. But pushing that aside for a minute-” Ryuzaki walked over to his son’s desk and knelt down to be eye level. “Todoroki huh? He seems nice.”

“Geh! Don’t-!“ Tokunosuke sat up in his seat and pulled out his D-Pad, already rapidly typing something. “Don’t you have to explain yourself to dad!”

Ryuzaki jolted at the reminder, and before he had a chance to defend himself, he heard his own D-Pad alerting him to a call from said person. Looking between the device and his son’s mischievous look, Ryuzaki pieced the two together. Getting up to go answer the call outside the room, he gave Tokunosuke a look.

“Tattletale.”

* * *

 

“Be sure to take breaks. You can’t duel every minute of every day.”

“I know.”

“And don’t go into shady areas! Especially with adult duelists!”

“I _know._ ”

“Thirteen is way too young to let people enter all-ages tournaments, now I’m worried-“

“I’ll be fine already-ura! Can you both just calm down!” Tokunosuke yelled to his parents, as they fussed over their child. It was hypocritical in his opinion; he knew for a fact his dads both participated in plenty of tournaments at his age.

“Don’t raise your voice cause your fathers worry about you.” Haga knelt down and adjusted Tokunosuke’s bowtie. He was pleased his son took pride in his appearance the way he did. It was fun helping him pick out an outfit for the big day. “We trust you to make good choices. You know how the world works.”

“Yeah, it’s full of liars and sleaze balls.”

“Geez, do you have to enter a tournament now? Can’t you wait until you’re older?” Ryuzaki was having a lot of flashbacks of his own duel tournament experiences and didn’t want Tokunosuke to go through _any_ of them. “We could fake an illness for you or something-“

“Ryuzaki, if you don’t stop worrying I’m going to smack you. Tokunosuke will be just fine.” Haga got up and walked over to his panicking husband, holding his shoulders to look him in the eye. “He’ll. Be. Fine.”

“I know, I know, I can’t help it. It’s different now that _I’m_ the parent.” A realization came to him. “Oh, _wow_ , I really need to apologize to mom for everything I did.”

“You do that, I’m going to go win a tournament if you don’t mind-ura.” Tokunosuke quickly grabbed his things and bolted towards the door to put on his shoes.

“Hold it!” Haga called, “You’re not leaving until I get one photo of you.”

“Aw, seriously? When have you ever cared about that sort of thing-ura?” Seeing the look on his fathers’ faces he knew he had to accept his fate if he wanted to get going anytime soon. “Fine, make it quick.”

“It’s your first duel tournament, I have to right to be a little sentimental over these sorts of things.” Pulling out his D-Pad, Haga got the camera app ready. Tokunosuke pulled out his heart piece and posed for a picture, clearly eager to just get out the door. Waiting for a moment longer than needed, he took the photo. “There. Was that so hard?”

“Agonizing-ura.” He quickly opened the door to make an exit.

“Have fun, Toku!” Ryuzaki called out. “Go crush your enemies and get those Heart candies!”

“They’re Heart pieces, dad!” Tokunosuke shook his own piece in the air. “It’s a solid gem! _Not_ candy!”

“Really? They look just like the stuff in the sweet shop.”

“It’d be really easy to fake.” Haga commented. The two stood in the doorway as they watched Tokunosuke run off to the bus station nearby. “…he’ll be fine. I’m sure.”

“Yeah. He totally will.” Ryuzaki pulled his husband close and gave him a peck on the cheek. “So…when do you want to head over to Heartland?”

“Just after the ceremony is over and the event starts.” Haga smirked. “After all, Tokunosuke doesn’t need to know _right away_ that his parents are participating in the tournament too.”

* * *

 

“…so _then_ the school prez went and chased me around the school for a while-ura. I got cornered and had to fork over all my earnings for the day.” Tokunosuke explained his day to Haga as they worked on dinner together, Ryuzaki being out to meet with a friend for the evening. It was rare, but Tokunosuke greatly enjoyed one on one time with his working father. They had similar views after all.

“Next time, bring in a third party. Have someone else sell the tickets for you and give that guy a share of the earnings. Except don’t, and give him fake cards instead of the real ones.” Haga paused from his cutting of vegetables. “I mean. Don’t cheat. Be a model citizen. Bad child.”

“I’ll keep that into consideration-ura.” Tokunosuke laughed, noticing the rice was ready and went to deal with that. “Honestly, how did dad end up with someone like you? I could never see him doing half the things you said you did.”

“Ryuzaki? Are you kidding me? He was _my_ third party.” Haga smirked and pushed his glasses up a bit. “It took a while for us to get along, sure. I definitely didn’t consider him a friend until _way_ later. But you’d be surprised how easy it was for me to get him on board with my ideas.”

“No way-ura. There’s no way the guy that gets mad at me for jaywalking an empty street would _ever_ break a rule.”

“Alright first,” Tokunosuke jolted at the sight of his dad pointing a knife at him. “That’s dangerous. Wait for the lights, idiot.” Haga sighed and went back to the vegetables, pushing them to one side and getting out the seaweed for the sushi. “And second, Ryuzaki is far from a goodie two shoes. You just know him as a father, I know him as a rough, loud mouthed dinosaur duelist who would gladly pick a fight with someone if they messed with him.”

“I definitely know the loud mouthed bit.” The boy squinted at Haga. “You rile him up every time you duel each other.”

“What can I say? He’s easy to tease.” Haga laughed to himself. “But then again, he knows how to get under my skin too. I think the banter we have is healthy, but I’m sure some of our friends think otherwise. After you wash your hands you can head the table, dinner’s almost done.”

“Alright.” Cleaning up and drying his hands, Tokunosuke walked over to the dinner table. “You still haven’t answered my question though. Why’d he stick with you-ura?”

“You’re a real rude kid, you know that right? Talking to your father like that.”

“You adopted me, you knew what you were in for-ura.” Tokunosuke sat down and stared at the table a bit. A lot went through his mind with this conversation. “If you weren’t friends, why’d he listen to you?”

“I always assumed it was loneliness. He didn’t have any friends of his own so he latched on to the first one that offered him companionship. Like a stray dog finding an owner if you will.” Haga paused. That metaphor reminded him of a certain mutt they didn’t like from their youth, and he mentally apologized to his husband for comparing him to Jounouchi. “Over time, I figured out it was because we had similar goals and we just were using each other to achieve them. But he never saw me as a pawn like I did him. Probably because I was the one actually coming up with the plans. Here.”

Tokunosuke thanked him for the meal and started eating the sushi. A part of him preferred his other father’s meals more, but it wasn’t like Haga’s were bad in any way. Just less meat involved.

“So, if that’s the case-” Tokunosuke paused to drink some water. One look from his father and he could practically hear the lecture about eating with your mouth full. “If that’s the case-ura, when did you stop seeing dad as a pawn and as…well, _you know_.”

“What, a partner? A lover?” He sneered, knowing just how to get his son flustered. “A soul mate?”

“Do you have to be so mushy about it-ura?” Tokunosuke groaned as he hid his face. “No kid should have to put up with this.”

“You’re being awfully curious about my romantic affairs this evening, Tokunosuke.” Haga raised an eyebrow. “What’s on your mind?”

“I’m just a naturally curious person is all-ura...” he mumbled. Haga definitely could tell something was bugging him, and that alone was motive to pursue the topic. And perhaps get some clarification on something the man has been wondering for a while…

“This wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with that Todoroki kid, would it?”

“What does he have to do with any of this?” Tokunosuke shot up from his seat, his face heating up. “Don’t go making assumptions-!”

“ _I’m_ not making assumptions, but your actions are starting to paint a clearer picture here.” He calmly took to having a drink of water to let his child calm down a bit. “Tell me, Toku, is something bothering you? Something you’d only want to ask me about?”

Tokunosuke reacted to that. He’s only heard Haga refer to him as Toku a handful of times, primarily whenever he got genuinely concerned for his son. Although admittedly, from his point of view Tokunosuke’s behaviour would raise a few parental alarms. He sat back down solemnly.

“Promise you won’t tell dad this stuff? It’s not that I don’t trust him, I do, I just…y’know.”

“…I’ll decide after you tell me, fair?”

“Fair-ura.” Tokunosuke sighed, his hands grasping at the material of his pants as he took to looking downwards. “Did you…did you ever feel like you were never going to be, well, _deserving_ of someone’s affections?”

Haga made a face. “Did someone tell you that you weren’t? Do I have to hunt anyone down? Because if you think _I’m_ the father less likely to go after a bully-”

“No! Geez, don’t even joke about stuff like that-ura!” Tokunosuke shuddered at the mere idea of his dad going after someone he disliked. The schemes were one thing, but Haga played at an entirely different level when it came to revenge. “I just don’t think someone like me is a good match up for someone like…well, let’s just say someone who’s a bit more rule abiding-ura.”

“Oh, a personality conflict. I see.” Haga visibly relaxed at the correction. “Well, has your different personalities caused problems in the past?”

“Only a few times-ura…mostly on my end.” The boy thought back to Takashi scolding him for impersonating a professional duelist. The whole evening was a mess cause of Tokunosuke’s scheme and he honestly did feel guilty for ruining his friends’ good time.

“Alright, then tell me this;” Haga raised a finger to make his point. “Has any of those conflicts cause a divide between you both that was so great you were unable to make amends afterwards?”

Tokunosuke thought hard about that. He thought to every moment Takashi got frustrated with him over breaking some form of rule, or causing some sort of chaos in the class representative’s otherwise organized and by the book life. But none of those moments ended with the boy turning tail and leaving the conversation without first talking it out, and ending it with a smile and a “Please try and do better next time”.

“I don’t think he’s the type to really give up on someone unless they do something _really_ bad-ura.”

“Wait. You’re only thinking about he see _you_ here.” Leaning over the table, Haga pointed his finger to his son. “You’re thinking that the world is only black and white, right and wrong. You might be the one usually starting the conflicts, sure, but has there ever been a situation where you’ve been the one upset for _his_ behaviour? Think _hard_.”

Staring at the finger pointing right at him, Tokunosuke leaned back until it was lowered, and thought some more. There really wasn’t many moments where his friend made _him_ upset, just the other way around. Heck, even when their entire friend group was at odds with each other over who was suited to be their group’s mascot, Takashi never turned on Tokunosuke, nor he did with him. But there was something _before_ then…

“I got mad at him when he took the rules too far, I guess.” Tokunosuke scowled a bit at the memory. “He lost his title as class rep, and that stupid school president manipulated him when he was down into becoming an officer of annoyance.”

Haga smirked inwardly at the fact Tokunosuke inadvertently just told him exactly who he was talking about for all of this. Not that Haga had much doubt; Ryuzaki informed him just how flustered their son had gotten around the Todoroki kid. “Go on.”

“He hammered down every last one of our stupid school rules and made everyone’s lives miserable for it-ura. He even went after me when I hadn’t even done anything yet!” It stung to have Takashi slap him with a ticket just for walking down a hallway. As if his whole existence was a constantly breaking rule. “No one was happy with that guy, but…”

“Yes?”

“…he apologized. He apologized and didn’t expect us to forgive him at all. He honestly thought that the things he did was deserving of losing everything he cared about. And I realized…that I’ve never really worried about that sort of thing.” Tokunosuke looked solemn. “I never worried that he’d leave me over trivial things, he or any of the others. Yuma, Tetsuo, Cathy…they aren’t the types of people to just give up on others. We all forgave him, and he was just so happy and relieved.”

“I knew people like that.” Haga remarked. “Always supporting and trusting each other, even when things were hopeless. Your friends sound a lot like them. Ah, but I guess the biggest difference was that with my group they didn’t like people like _me_ much at all.” He shook his head when he noticed Tokunosuke stare at him questioningly. “Forget I said anything. So, if that’s how you see your friends, why do you think you aren’t deserving of their kindness?”

“Well, uh- You see it’s more like-” Tokunosuke stammered and his cheeks turned bright red. “My dilemma…is more for the r-romantic side of things-ura?”

“Oh? Is that right?” He fought back an urge to laugh. “Could it be my son is dealing with his first crush?”

“Ugh, this is dumb-ura!” The boy head desked the table and tried to hide his flustered face as he groaned. “He’s never going to like me like that, why do I even want to try?”

“Because it might just be the only way to stop yourself from thinking you’ll never find someone else who can put up with you like he can?”

The groaning stopped, and Tokunosuke looked up from his spot with a bewildered face. That…was exactly what he felt. Only he never could phrase it well enough. He stared at his father, who for the first time in the conversation, looked away from him.

“How’d you know that?”

“You’re smart, you could probably guess.” Haga sighed, accepting that this was the only way he could help. “I thought the same thing. When Ryuzaki and I were at the state to call each other friends, I latched on it. I didn’t want to lose my first friend, especially one that supported and trusted me the way he did.”

“So…you had the same kind of luck with friends I did, huh?” Tokunosuke remembered his younger days, how he couldn’t find a single true friend that didn’t use him in some way. It felt like a miracle that Yuma offered him friendship, and that miracle just grew more unbelievable when he met with the others. When he got to befriend Takashi.

“You know how it is; it’s hard to gain people’s trust when you have no trust to give.” The man looked down at his hand, and played with the ring on his finger, a small smile forming as he did. “But Ryuzaki trusted me. And I trusted him. And as time went on, I found that that trust turned into something a bit…mushy, as you call it.”

“You can also call it cheesy, ridiculous and corny beyond words if it helps-ura.”

“Hey, do you want my advice or not?” Tokunosuke nodded. “Well, obviously I had to really think about what these new feelings were. I never had a friend like him before, so how was I supposed to tell if I was feeling love, or if I was just feeling friendship a little stronger than before? I spent so much time worrying about things like that, that I didn’t even realize I was missing out on my life.”

“Wait, what do you mean by that-ura?” he queried. “What happened to you?”

“I was doing what I always did; shielding myself away. I guess a part of me thought if I saw Ryuzaki while I was still figuring out these emotions, I would do something stupid and lose him. So I ignored him, I locked myself in my room, and like a dumbass, cut myself off from him.” Haga thought of how dull those days were when all was said and done.

“So…to avoid losing dad, you…gave up him-ura?” Tokunosuke made a face. “What kind of backwards logic is that?”

“Like I said, I was a dumbass, okay?” he snapped, before collecting himself. “But I guess we both were. I got a call from him one day practically begging me to meet with him in a park with frequented. I went out of worry, and when I got there, he just went on his knees and started saying apologizes left right and center, about how he was sorry for whatever he did to make me hate him so much. In his babbling, he let it slipped that loved me and-“ Haga started laughing at the memory. “He was so embarrassed and flustered! He started saying a dozen more apologizes for that, and I just couldn’t take it anymore! I told him my own feelings and well, the rest was history.”

“Wow, so you’ve _always_ been a pair of idiots then-ura.” Tokunosuke giggled despite himself at the mental picture of his father’s embarrassing confession. “So, all that time worrying was for nothing, and dad was the one to actually be mature for once?”

“When you put it like that, I guess so.” Haga wiped a tear as his laughter calmed down. “We were a bunch of dumb kids. But who could blame us? It was our first and only love.”

“So then, what should I take away from all this then? That hiding away _is_ good, or isn’t good-ura?”

“Take away that making assumptions of others only gets you so far in life, Toku. That you could miss out on some really great things if you spend your whole life thinking you aren’t good enough for anything.” Getting up from his seat, Haga walked over to the other side of the table. “You’re a good kid, despite what you might think, and you are allowed to care about another person. Even if you think things might not work out, trust in that bond you both share, and trust that no matter what his answer might be to your feelings that he won’t leave you for it. Who knows? He might just surprise you.”

“…thanks dad.” Tokunosuke said quietly, wiping a few tears away before giving Haga a hug. “I’m glad things worked out for you too.”

Haga held his child and smiled. He remembered when he adopted Tokunosuke, he and Ryuzaki promised themselves to be the support they never had at his age. He knew words could only do so much, but if they could help his son in any way he would say them all.

He was just glad things could be better.


End file.
